Georgia High School Writing Test (GHSWT)

[Pages:58]Georgia High School Writing Test (GHSWT)

Fall 2013 Writing Topic and Annotated Sample Papers

GHSWT Sample Papers ? Fall 2013 Page 1 of 58

Fall 2013 GHSWT ? Main Administration Writing Topic

Writing Topic 131 Writing Situation Students in several states perform community service as a graduation requirement for high school. These activities include serving meals to the elderly, visiting hospitals, tutoring younger students, building homes for families, doing yard work, or helping at senior citizen centers. At their next meeting, the school board in your district is going to vote on whether community service should be required for graduation. Directions for Writing Write a letter to convince the school board to support or reject the community service requirement for graduation. Include specific details and examples to support your position.

(Copyright ? 2005 Georgia Department of Education)

GHSWT Sample Papers ? Fall 2013 Page 2 of 58

Paper 1

GHSWT Sample Papers ? Fall 2013 Page 3 of 58

Paper 1 (page two)

GHSWT Sample Papers ? Fall 2013 Page 4 of 58

Annotations for Paper 1

Ideas Score: 2 The controlling idea (community service should be required for graduation) is minimally developed. Supporting ideas are relevant (students already do a lot of community service, many students support the community service requirement, and there are many needs in the community). The writer includes few details to develop these supporting ideas (e.g., "98% of students though it was an excellent idea"). Notice that most of the examples in the final body paragraph come directly from the prompt; because the writer does not elaborate much on them, there is limited original student writing in this paragraph. This paper has effective focus, but none of the supporting ideas are sufficiently developed. It is an example of a high 2 in Ideas.

Organization Score: 3 The writer demonstrates sufficient control of the components of Organization. The introduction is clear. The writer groups related ideas about how students already do a lot of community service, and how there are many needs in the community. Ideas within the body paragraphs follow a generally clear sequence, although they do not always build logically on one another. Some transitions link ideas in the response (e.g., "We already do," and pronoun substitution like "they" for "the elderly"). The conclusion is brief, but it provides clear closure.

Style Score: 3 Word choice is generally effective (e.g., "students thought it was an excellent idea for both the school and the community," "we need to provide them with as much help as possible," and "the environment will benefit from this"). There are some lapses into simpler language, however (e.g., "do good at school," "can do a lot for the community" and "a lot of people). The caring, can-do-it tone is appropriate to the persuasive topic and purpose. The writer's voice is clear, and there is some variation in sentence length and structure. Overall, the writer demonstrates sufficient control of the components of Style.

Conventions Score: 3 Most of the sentences in the paper are correct. The elements of usage are generally correct, but there are some incorrect word forms (e.g., "A couple of kids have also went around"). The elements of mechanics are generally correct, although there is an occasional misspelling (e.g., "deffinetly"). Overall, there not many errors in this paper, but there is also not extensive evidence of control (note that the handwriting is quite large). This paper is an example of a high 3.

Performance Level: Meets the Standard

GHSWT Sample Papers ? Fall 2013 Page 5 of 58

Paper 2

GHSWT Sample Papers ? Fall 2013 Page 6 of 58

Paper 2 (page two)

GHSWT Sample Papers ? Fall 2013 Page 7 of 58

Annotations for Paper 2

Ideas Score: 2 The controlling idea (there should not be a community service requirement for graduation) is minimally developed. Supporting ideas are relevant (students already have a lot going on in school, some students have after-school jobs, and some students don't have transportation to get to community service events). These supporting ideas are only partially developed with general details like "having to earn a certain amount of credits." The paper has effective focus, but there is not enough information in the response to provide a sense of completeness.

Organization Score: 2 The writer demonstrates minimal control of the components of Organization. There is a clear introduction, and some related ideas are grouped together (students already have a lot going on in school, some students have after-school jobs, and some students don't have transportation to get to community service events). Because there are so few details in each paragraph, however, there are not many ideas to group together, limiting the evidence of control in the component. The same holds true for sequencing. Some transitions link parts of the paper, but they tend to be simple (e.g., "Also" and "Plus"). The conclusion is brief but clear. This paper is an example of a high 2 in Organization. If the writer had included a few more ideas in each body paragraph, the Organization score would likely have been higher because there would be more evidence of grouping and sequencing demonstrated.

Style Score: 2 Although there are some examples of effective language (e.g., "a direct means of transportation), word choice tends to be simple, ordinary, and repetitive (e.g., "a certain amount," "every day jobs," "this community service thing," "meet test score requirements" / "meet community service requirements"). These inconsistencies leave the tone clear in places, and flat in others. There is limited sentence variety.

Conventions Score: 2 There are some correct sentences in the response, but there are also many attempts in which the writer loses control (e.g., the second paragraph is a single overloaded attempt). Usage is generally correct, but there are also some incorrect word forms (e.g., "to much"). Some elements of mechanics are correct, but there is quite a bit of missing internal punctuation (e.g., very few commas, "dont have," and "Im asking"). Overall, the response is a mix of correct and incorrect examples.

Performance Level: Does Not Meet the Standard

GHSWT Sample Papers ? Fall 2013 Page 8 of 58

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download